Traveling on a plane with your drone

Arkarian · Mar 20, 2017

I'm a little confused with the manual. It says in order to take the batteries on the plane they must be fully discharged. Yet it also says Never over-discharge as this may lead to battery cell damage.

So what is the scoop on traveling with the Mavic and batteries???

Thanks!

msinger · Mar 20, 2017

You do not need to discharge the batteries before taking them on a plane.

Arkarian · Mar 20, 2017

Another question is can I take it as a carry on or should it be checked in my luggage?

msinger · Mar 20, 2017

In the US, you must carry all extra batteries in your carry-on bag. See more details here.

HFMan · Mar 21, 2017

It is also highly recommended to discharge them to no more than 30%. Not a rule, but a good idea in general.

mpa · Mar 21, 2017

if your traveling its best to keep the batteries between 30-50%, the reason being
1. it will keep your batteries in good shape (the higher the voltage the more it stresses the batteries get, which means you are degrading the life of your batteries faster)
2. if theirs a defect in the batteries and they decide to go kablamo there less energy to cause a major issue on the plane.

just my thoughts..

KiterTodd · Mar 21, 2017

I flew domestically recently with the Mavic and had no issues. It was not even inspected.
I kept one batt on the mavic and my two spares in lipo bags in my carry-on.

anticipate · Mar 27, 2017

Same. I carried it on with three batteries, No issue

Squamer · Mar 27, 2017

I flew from Boston to Dallas and back this week. Took my Nanuk 910 case 4 batteries and Mavic through security in Boston with no issues. Had the battery terminals covered and in my carry on fully charged. Landed and flew as soon as we were outside of the airport range. Coming home security hassled me for 20 minutes because the props were "sharp." The TSA agents final response was "oh this is one of them drone thangs huh" closed my case back up after I explained I would not remove the blades as then they would be more dangerous than attached to the drone and was on my way. Zero mention of batteries.

KiterTodd · Mar 28, 2017

Got hassled for the blades, @Squamer ? You had to be thinking, "are you f*cking kidding me?!?! I didn't see this coming."

Squamer · Mar 28, 2017

KiterTodd said:
Got hassled for the blades, @Squamer ? You had to be thinking, "are you f*cking kidding me?!?! I didn't see this coming."

Was running late for my flight too because the shuttle from the rental car to the airport was late. The whole time I am going come on lady a little urgency as you waste my time! I explained everything is well within TSA guidelines and explained the batteries were covered and they were just look like at the X-Ray this is what we saw. Funny thing is is I work for Smiths who makes the X-ray machines and am X-Ray certified haha

Arkarian · Apr 6, 2019

Just went to Hawaii and back with Mavic Pro. No hassles. Have everything in a nice metal case. Extra blades and 4 batteries. Flew north shore. No problems.

pMak26 · Apr 13, 2019

I fly with mine often. Always carry-on (I hate checking bags). Just pull the drone and RC out of your bag like you would a laptop and it is no issue. If you don't, it is likely they will pull it out of your bag and you have to wait for them to run it through the machine again.